Finding Home
by Willowwind Adurois
Summary: Mass mary-sue. At a party consisting of four sugar-high teenage girls, something goes drastically wrong, and they, along with several others, are transported to the land of anime, where they must find a portal to take them home...
1. Of Sugar and Slipping Mental Knives

**A/N:**

**Willowwind**: ::wide, evil grin::

**Escurcae**: ::wide, evil grin::

**Lieh**: ::wide, evil grin::

**Nachzes**: ::walks in with a wide, evil grin::

**Legolas**: ::sweatdrop:: Er, one of the usual, then?

**Escurcae**: Sort of, but not...::wider, eviler grin::

**Legolas**: Oh no...

**Escurcae**: Oh yes...::even wider, eviler grin::

**Seto**: ::pops up:: This is beginning to sound familiar...haven't I had this argument with your yami, Lieh?

**Lieh**: ::happily:: Yup! ::to readers:: You haven't read the fic yet. Heehee, sucks to be you!

**Yami**: ::walks in:: ::to Willowwind:: What are you getting us into now?

**Willowwind**: ::holding Lieh and Nachzes back from attacking Yami:: You don't want to kn—::gets cut off by Lieh::

**Lieh**: Get out of my sight, jerk!

**Seto**: I would advise doing so, before you regret it.

**Yami**: ::snort:: I doubt anything would happen to me. I'm immortal, hence invincible.

**Willowwind**: Fine. Just don't say we didn't warn you. Now hurry up and do the disclaimer, somebody, before my arms give way.

::crickets chirp::

**Willowwind**: ::snaps:: Fine! I'll do the stupid thing! We actually own basically everything in this chapter. Nachzes and Lieh own themselves and Thrain with all its characters (Jes and Jes' teacher are about the only ones mentioned here), and me and Escurcae own...ourselves...just like Yousei Youko owns herself.... Oh, and a note on Thrain: The characters from Thrain are from Nachzes' novel, and are only used in this fic by special permission. _Under no circumstances should anyone use any of the characters from Thrain in a fic of their own without obtaining special permission from Nachzes first. _If anyone does, you will have much trouble on your hands, I promise you that. Oh, and the idea of different types of mages (air, water, fire, earth, ice) also belongs exclusively to Nachzes. So don't even think about using it, people. Anyways, that's it for the disclaimer, for now. Roll fic!

Warnings: What, do I have to warn you too? O.K., fine! Mass mary-sue. Nothing else in this chapter. _Happy???_

--**_Finding Home_**

-**Chapter One – Of Sugar and Slipping Mental Knives**

Jes and Lieh were sugar high ::A/N: Hey, that rhymes!::. Which was bad. Very bad. Especially when there were two other teenage girls present; one who is beyond sugar high, and one who was, at the time, hiding in a closet from the insane people outside, shivering.

Willowwind Adurois, the 15-year-old telepathic elf was lying on the ground, rolling around and laughing hysterically at absolutely nothing at all. Yousei Youko, the 16-year-old faerie, was hiding in the closet, rocking back and forth with her knees tucked into her chest, and she was shaking with fear of the hyper people outside.

Jes and Lieh were giggling as they read a manga, quoting small sections in turn. "No! Get out of – the hall, and come in." 16-year-old Lieh laughed, collapsing into a giggling heap on the bed, dangerously close to the edge.

"No no no," 16-year-old Jes, first ice(1) mage in a century, said, doubled over in fits of silent giggles, "Now you can't take me off! W-hahaha!" Lieh snorted and gasped for breath, then managed to choke out:

"Kuriboh, I would have lost without you!" The pair cracked up again, and Lieh rolled closer to the edge of the bed, the mattress corner sinking in warning.

"One potato, two potato, three potato, four..." Jes choked, then jumped about a foot as Lieh, lost in another fit of laughter at the quote, fell out of the bed with a loud 'thump' as she hit the floor. Suddenly, Jes stiffened as she felt a featherlight touch the corner of her mind (2), and the words "magechild(3), get over here, now!" inserted themselves into her thoughts.

"Be right there," Jes called back through the mental link, snapping her fingers and seizing a handful of air. Carefully, she concentrated on slicing the air with her will – forming it into a blade and picturing the symbols of transport and speed in her mind. Unfortunately, at that precise moment, Lieh had to speak up, breaking Jes' fragile concentration.

"What about my potato song?"

The razor-sharp point of the blade sliced through the air in a wide arc, opening a portal that engulfed the whole room as the seams in the atmosphere split. The four teenagers felt themselves being pulled from the room, and a roaring filled their ears. The last thing any of them heard before a wave of excruciating pain washed over them and they blacked out was the sound of Jes' teacher's astonished shout.

---

(1)-In Thrain, there are more than one type of mage. Jes is an ice mage. You should know that by now.

(2)-Basically, Jes' teacher is sending her a mental message.

(3)-magechild is Jes' mage name. That's another idea from Thrain.

**---**

**Willowwind**: There endeth chapter one.

**Lieh**: What? That took 'us', like, an hour, tops. Including planning!

**Escurcae**: I know. It's short.

**Lieh**: ::stares:: I see what you mean. Author's notes and all, it's only 3 pages!

**Willowwind**: Let's do a Nachzes-like thing and say 'tis a teaser. If it gets 5 reviews, we'll post the next chapter. Which will be longer.

**Escurcae**: 'kay...hey, Lieh, what did you and Nachzes do to Yami?

**Nachzes**: ::BIG grin:: Oh, you mean after we tortured him, and hog-tied him so we could force him to watch 15 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 United Learning videos?

**Escurcae**: Erm, yeah.

**Nachzes**: ::wider grin:: We tied him to a rocket and sent him to Pluto.

**Escurcae**: ...

**Willowwind**: O-kay...well, press the magic review button, people!


	2. Into the World of Anime

**A/N: **

**Willowwind**: Back! And with a much longer chapter plot line, too...

**Escurcae**: ::nodnodnod::

**Willowwind**: Oh, Nachzes, we'll be needing Yami soon, so is there any chance that you could get him back, say, by the end of this chapter?

**Nachzes**: But I don't _want_ him back!

**Willowwind**: Sorry, but we need him for the fic.

**Nachzes**: ::pouts::

**Escurcae**: ::patpat:: Don't worry, we'll let you have more fun with him when the fic is over.

**Nachzes**: ::immediately stops pouting:: O.K.! But finish this fic faster then! ::runs out with Lieh to figure out some way of bringing Yami back from Pluto::

**Willowwind**: So, where were we?

**Legolas**: ::rolls eyes:: You were about to start chapter two of this fic.

**Willowwind**: Was I?

**Escurcae**: ::nodnodnod::

**Willowwind**: Oh...O.K. ::wanders off::

**Escurcae**: Never mind her, she's just tired. Anyways, on with the fic. Everyone still owns what they did before, but we don't own Yugioh!, and there's some new characters from Thrain. You can't have them, either.

**Warnings**: Still a mass mary-sue. Nothing has changed. Warnings can get pretty pointless beyond chapter one, you know? Only difference is a huge possibility of OOC characters. (coughsetomokubacough)

--**_Finding Home_**

-**Chapter Two – Into the World of Anime**

Lieh was lying on something cold, rough, and hard. She opened her eyes, then quickly closed them again as the light shot pain through them. Every inch of her body was sore, and it tingled strangely. Placing her hands firmly on the ground, she pushed herself up into a sitting position, trying to ignore the wave of dizziness and nausea that swept over her. Slowly, she opened her eyes, while shielding them with her hand against the sun's glare.

When her eyes adjusted to the light, she pulled her hand away from her eyes, and then stopped, staring at her hand. Something was definitely not right.

Her hand had very few different colours, and somehow did not look like a real hand; it almost looked as though it had been drawn, though there were no flaws of any sort to prove this. She reached up and grabbed a shock of hair, pulling it out so she could see it. Her usual hair was made up of medium, light, reddish, and blondish browns, but now it was reddish-brown with brownish-blonde streaks, and was far too perfectly waved for it to be her own hair. Lieh dropped the lock of hair and glanced around her, and saw a very odd scene. All of her friends who had been with her when whatever had happened had happened were there, lying unconscious in a deserted alley. But they were not the only ones there.

Nachzes, Lieh's dark half, was lying near Lieh, and Escurcae, Willowwind's other half, was there too. It was not surprising to see them there, as (usually) what happens to one happens to the other. However, there were others there, too. One was Aaron Autumnleaf, Jes' teacher. Jes would not have found this surprising, but Lieh had no idea what had happened to get them there, let alone why it had happened. There were also three others whom Lieh could not identify: a tall boy with medium-length brown hair, who was dressed in a crimson robe. From Jes' descriptions, Lieh could tell that this was a fire mage from Thrain. The other two's pointy ears and stature gave away the fact that they were both elves from Thrain. One had long, straight, silver-blonde hair, was very tall, ::A/N: ::coughs:: Sound like anyone we know?:: and was obviously very strong in magic; he seemed to glow with silvery light that had strands of metallic blue twisted through it. The other was obviously much younger, and not nearly as powerful. She was just a little over half as tall as the other, and had fuller (but still straight), reddish-brown hair, with the ends flipped in. So, all in all, a party of no less than ten had come along, wherever they were.

Even the fact that so many had come along was not the first thing Lieh had noticed. The first thought that had come into her aching head was this:

"Everyone looks like anime characters!"

All around her, people were starting to revive. Nachzes was the first to sit up and glance around. The first person she saw was Lieh, who she stared at, shocked.

"Lieh, you – you're...I mean..."

"You mean I look like an anime character?" Lieh guessed after a moment's pause. Nachzes nodded, stunned into silence. ::A/N: ::shiver:: A quiet Nachzes...that would be weird...:: "You look like an anime character, too. So does everyone else," Lieh proceeded.

"Everyone else? What..." Lieh's dark trailed off into silence as she glanced around her. Then she looked at her light questioningly. "Who are all of these people? What are they doing here?"

"Beyond Willowwind and her dark, Jes, and Yousei, I have no idea. Oh, and there's Jes' teacher, over there. He's from Thrain. So are those three. That's about all I know. Now, instead of asking me questions that I can't answer, why don't you go and revive someone why can answer you? Most of them are already waking up, so it shouldn't take too long. Then we can all sit down and figure out what happened."

At this moment, the older elf sat up, rubbing his head. He glanced around, and then caught sight of the other, younger elf. "Brightmoss!" he exclaimed worriedly, before hurrying over to her side.

Soon after this, Aaron, Jes, Yousei-Youko, Escurcae Adurois, the fire mage, and the elf who was apparently called Brightmoss were awake. Only Willowwind had not regained consciousness, but she was stirring.

Lieh walked over to her friend's side, and shook her gently. Willowwind slowly opened her eyes, and then stared up at Lieh's face. Then she said slowly, "You're an anime character..."

Lieh's eye twitched. "So are you."

Willowwind then noticed a feature on Lieh that was the one thing she found funny about anime characters. "You have a poky nose..."

Lieh's eye twitched again, although far more fiercely this time. "So. Do. You!"

Willowwind's eyes lit up, and a look of the utmost joy and excitement came onto her face. "I have a poky _nose?_" she shouted, and then paused only a moment before jumping up and running around, poking random people on the arm with her nose.

All those who did not know Willowwind beforehand sweatdropped massively. Those who did know her merely rolled their eyes and ignored her, and Escurcae used a nearby brick wall for banging her head against. Everyone's attention was turned away from her, however, when they saw two strangers standing at the entrance to the alley, looking confused. The first stranger was very tall, with straight brown hair and narrow sapphire eyes. The one that followed him was approximately half his height, with long, messy black hair and big bluish-lavender eyes. Both of them looked more shaken than confused, though, when Willowwind, not realizing that these people were new to the scene, ran up to the taller one and immediately began poking him with her nose, yelling "Pokepokepokepokepoke!" as she did so.

The younger boy giggled, but the older one merely stared at her, his face expressionless, until she stopped and looked up. Her face drained of colour as she realized her mistake, then was quickly replaced by a bright red flush. "Oh," she stammered, "you're not one of us, are you?"

---

::A/N: In case this confuses anyone, we are going back in time and seeing what somebody else was doing during this time. This does not happen after the previous bit.:: It was mid-afternoon on a beautiful August day. The sunlight streamed down through windows, which were open to let the warm autumn air in. Mokuba Kaiba stared out the window, wondering when his brother would be finished work so they could go on the walk that he had been promised that morning. He sighed, watching the top of the golden trees stirring in the cool breeze, which caused a shower of golden-brown and red leaves. Mokuba glanced at the clock. Half past two. The black-haired boy got off the chair beside the window. He was _not_ going to let his brother sit inside and work all day while the weather was still perfect.

Seto was sitting at his desk, typing at the speed of light on his computer. The rapid, steady click of the keys being pressed halted when a voice hailed him from the doorway.

"Seto?"

Seto turned his chair to face the speaker. "Yes, Mokuba?"

"Are you done yet?"

"No. I said I'd tell you when I'm done." The 16-year-old brunette turned his chair back to the computer.

"Seto?" Mokuba persisted.

"What?"

"It's a really nice day out."

"Indeed."

"And the warm weather won't last much longer."

"Yes, and...?"

"It will be too late to go on a walk soon."

"So?"

"So we should go while we can."

"We can go when I'm finished."

"When will you be finished?"

"Later."

"It will be too late later."

"You aren't going to leave me alone, are you?"

"Nope. Not until you come."

Seto sighed, and got up. "All right, let's go. But this cannot be a long walk, understand?"

Mokuba nodded, grinned triumphantly, and led the way out of the room.

---

"Mokuba, it's about time we went back."

"Come on, just a little farther!"

"That's what you said ten minutes ago. I still have work to do."

"You can do it later." Mokuba grabbed his brother's hand and dragged him down another road.

Seto attempted half-heartedly to pull his hand from his little brother's grasp. "Mokuba, _where_ are we going?"

"Somewhere."

"Where?"

"Oh, nowhere in particular, but I imagine that we'll get somewhere if we keep moving."

Seto sweatdropped. "I was afraid of that."

Mokuba led them down several random streets, into a very poor, thinly populated area in Domino City. Seto was about to suggest that they return to civilization, when Mokuba turned down another alley, and they were standing in plain view of a few people, one of whom was yelling at the top of her lungs, "I have a poky _NOSE_?"

"Who is that?" whispered Mokuba, as the same girl began running around, poking people on the arm or shoulder with her nose, and yelling "Poke!" every time she did so.

"I don't know, and we are not staying to find out. Come on."

However, at that moment, the girl seemed to see them, and she ran straight for them, grinning like an absolute maniac. As she came closer, they could see that she was an elf. Seto instinctively stepped in front of Mokuba. The elf ran up to them, and immediately began poking Seto on the arm with her nose, yelling "Pokepokepokepokepoke!" as she did so.

The CEO watched her, his face expressionless. From behind him, he could hear Mokuba starting to giggle. He looked up, and saw the rest of the group staring at the elf with horrified expressions on their faces.

Very soon after this, the elf seemed to become confused at her victim's blatant lack of reaction. She stopped poking him and looked up. Her face went chalk white, followed closely by bright red. "Oh," she stammered, "you're not one of us, are you?"

Seto merely shook his head, keeping his face expressionless. Mokuba's giggling had reached a crescendo, and he had noticed another elf in the other group, one who was about Mokuba's age, giggling as well.

Through her bright flush, the elf managed to look bemused. "You look familiar," she told Seto. "Who..."

She glanced back at her friends. One girl was drooling and swaying, and looked very much like she was about to fall over. Another, who looked remarkably like the first, stood, glaring at Seto, and tapping her foot on the pavement with her arms crossed. "Oh," the elf whispered in an awed voice, "you're _him_."

Seto didn't have much time to be confused, as three things happened in rapid succession which distracted him entirely.

First, the girl who had been drooling and swaying fell forwards, landed on her front with her face to the side, and (as he could tell from the small puddle forming near her face) she was still drooling.

Second, he had apparently gotten to close to the elf who was Mokuba's age, for Mokuba stepped out from behind Seto, and they began to have such a rapid conversation that no one could tell what they were saying, save them. An older male elf was standing by the younger one's side, looking as though he wanted to pull the two away from each other.

And third, the girl who had fallen over bounced back up, squealing "KAWAII!!!". Sprinting about two steps, she glomped Mokuba and the elf.

The male elf had his bow out, an arrow on the string, and was aiming at the girl faster than the eye could follow. Seto, however, took a slightly more direct approach, and, through a fast, complicated martial arts move, he pinned the girl (who had let go of Mokuba and the elf) down on the ground, his hand at her throat.

The girl resumed drooling, and she was mumbling dazedly, "He's touching me...he's actually touching me..."

The male elf was looking rather annoyed, and completely disgusted. "Can I _please_ shoot her now?" he asked Seto.

"Be my guest." Seto got up, and walked over to Mokuba, who had resumed his conversation with the young elf. However, now their faces were far more serious.

"Come, Mokuba," Seto ordered curtly.

"But Seto..."

"I said come."

"Seto, these people are lost!"

"Oh, really? That's interesting. Now come."

"They need help!"

"I see. Well, the waterfall over there seems to know where they are." This set the girl off squealing about him noticing her _and _giving her a nickname.

The male elf looked thoughtfully at the girl. "Good point. Where are we?"

"Yugioh realm, Yugioh realm, Yugioh realm," she chanted, while bouncing up and down.

The elf rolled his eyes. "Well, I don't know about the rest of you, but that doesn't tell me a thing."

Mokuba looked pleadingly at Seto. "Can't we..."

"No, Mokuba."

"But..."

"We are not a charity organization."

"So? They're nice, and they're funny, and they need help! We _can_ help them, so why shouldn't we?"

"Because I am not about to start letting every nice, funny, homeless person who needs help into my home."

"I'm not asking you to let them all in!"

"Not yet."

"I won't! We aren't likely to get to know many homeless people, are we?"

"No, we're not, because we're never coming here again."

"That's all right! But now that we've met these people..."

"Mokuba..."

"Just this once, Seto?"

"No. I will not permit people we don't know to sleep in our home."

Mokuba beamed. "Great! Then we can camp out in the backyard!"

"..."

"Thank you! You're the nicest big brother ever!" Mokuba grabbed the young elf's hand, and yelled, "Everybody follow me!"

The group of twelve marched down the narrow alleyways, towards the rich part of the city. They were led by a glowing Mokuba, and followed by Seto, who was glowering fit to freeze lava.

---

"Now, would you kindly explain what happened, and how you came to be 'lost' in Domino City?" Seto was still glowering, but no one seemed to notice. They were all sitting in a circle in the Kaiba mansion's backyard, and they had just finished introducing themselves. Jes began the story.

"Well, you see, we're not exactly from this realm. Me and those three were having a bit of a party, and we got sugar-high. I wasn't from the world that we were having the party in, and I had just transported myself there. Then my teacher, him, he told me through our mental link to come back to my world. I don't know why, but anyways, I tried to transport myself, but she made me laugh while I was doing it, so I lost my concentration, and the transport went awry. It sort of felt like we were being sucked up into some sort of void, and then this terrible pain came, and I guess we all blacked out. I suppose my teacher was sucked in as well, but I still don't know what those five are doing here." She indicated Nachzes, Escurcae, Silverwater (the male elf), Brightmoss, and Flamechild (the fire mage).

Aaron Autumnleaf now took up the story. "The reason I called Jes back was that Silverwater and Brightmoss showed up, and they wanted to speak to her. They said it was urgent. So I called her back and waited for her to come, but within a minute, something had obviously gone wrong, and we were all sucked up, like Jes said. Oh, and Flamechild had come previously to visit Jes, but she was gone, so I invited him to stay until she got back. I still don't know why Silverwater needed to see Jes so urgently though."

"I suppose it's sort of my fault that we're here." Silverwater smiled ruefully. "I just saw something bad happening to Jes in my mirror. I thought it might be the Uli (1), so I went to warn her. Brightmoss has always wanted to come with me, and I didn't think this would be a very dangerous mission, so I let her come. I didn't see anything happening to us, but the picture was very blurry."

Seto eyed them all coldly. "You still haven't said why those two are here." He nodded at Nachzes and Escurcae.

Willowwind explained this. "Oh, that's easy. Nachzes is Lieh's dark half, and Escurcae is mine. They got transported because we did."

Seto raised an eyebrow. "Dark half? You mean they're your yamis?"

"I think that's what you would call them, yes."

"I see."

The meeting dispersed soon after this, After a lot of arguing and protesting, Seto got his way and Mokuba had to come inside to sleep instead of staying with the others. Seto lead the way inside, looking relieved that he had finally won an argument against Mokuba. His younger brother followed him in as the other ten found spots to lay their borrowed blankets. Luckily, it was a warm night, so sleeping under the stars would not be a problem. As they slowly dropped off to sleep, one general thought ran through all of their minds.

This was proving to be no less than...odd.

-----

(1) – The Uli (which is plural for Ulidaine), are a thing from Thrain which attacks ice mages, and tries to get them to become a Ulidaine themselves. This is yet another copyright idea.

-------

**A/N**:

**Willowwind**: ::grin:: See? Longer!

**Escurcae**: ::takes one look at chapter and faints::

**Legolas**: Yes...longer....

::Nachzes walks in::

**Willowwind**: Oh, Nachzes, did you get Yami back?

**Nachzes**: ::evil grin:: Yup! Bring him in, Lieh!

::Lieh walks in, pulling huge, Yami-shaped ice block::

**Willowwind**: Oh dear....

**Nachzes**: You know, I think I like him better this way...he's not nearly as annoying. Actually, I think he's rather amusing.

**Willowwind**: ::stares, horror-stricken, at Yami ice block:: But he can't be in the fic this way!

**Nachzes**: Why not? You just attach strings and we have him as a marionette.

**Willowwind**: ::glare::

**Lieh**: You know, Nachzes, she has a point....

**Nachzes**: ::pouts::

**Willowwind**: Defrost him.

**Nachzes**: ::perks up:: Oh, you mean stick him in the microwave?

**Willowwind**: No. I mean get him the way he was before you sent him to Pluto.

**Nachzes**: ::evil grin:: O.K.! ::takes out flamethrower and aims at Yami::

**Willowwind and Lieh**: ::simultaneously:: Oh dear....

**Nachzes**: ::turns on flamethrower::

::several seconds later::

**Yami**: ::burnt to charcoal with wisp of smoke coming up from head:: ::blinks::

**Willowwind**: Fix. Him. Up. By. The. Start. Of. The. Next. Chapter. And. I. MEAN IT!!!

**Escurcae**: ::wakes up:: Review, peoples! I mean, now that there's actually something to review....


	3. 23 is Company?

**A/N:**

::Lieh is reading last chapter::

**Lieh**: ::imitating Silverwater when he wants to pull Mokuba and Brightmoss apart:: ::speaking in funny voice:: Oh, must get him away from Brightmoss. Brightmoss must not associate with him. He has wonky hair. Bad role model! Bad role model!

**Silverwater**: ::fingers twitch:: You realize that this is your OWN CHARACTER you're dissing!

**Lieh**: ::blink:: Yeah...so?

**Silverwater**: ::fingers twitch:: Your FAVORITE character.

**Lieh**: So?

**Silverwater**: So...aargh! I give up!

**Lieh**: ::giggle:: ::takes out pocket calendar:: And another tick for today....

**Silverwater**: ::seethe::

**Legolas**: ::to Silverwater:: You look...familiar....

**Silverwater**: I should. I was based off of you.

**Legolas**: I see....

**Willowwind**: ::tapping foot:: Lieh?

**Lieh**: Yes?

**Willowwind**: Where is Yami?

**Lieh**: Oh, him. Nachzes is bringing him.

::Nachzes walks in, prodding a manacled Yami in front of her::

**Willowwind**: ::eyes narrow dangerously::

**Escurcae**: ::glances at Willowwind:: Maybe you should get those things off Yami before—

**Willowwind**: GET THOSE THINGS OFF YAMI _NOW_!!!

**Silverwater**: ::sweatdrops:: Erm, time for the disclaimer?

**Legolas**: Yes. We don't own Yugioh!, but we do own everything else...except for Haiiro and Ih'kauren. They're characters off of a quizilla quiz. And warnings...still a mass mary-sue, there's still a huge possibility of OOC characters...possibility of swears, courtesy of Lieh and Nachzes...er, yeah. ::odd clunking noises in background:: Roll fic!

--**_Finding Home_**

-**Chapter 3 – 23 is Company???**

"Please, Seto?"

"Mokuba, I've already told you, NO."

"But big brother, I want to introduce them to my friends!"

"No. I will not have people thinking that I am going soft."

"No one I want to invite over would think that, and I'm sure they wouldn't tell anybody! Please? Just a few friends?"

Seto finally snapped. "Fine! You an invite a few friends over. But, before you tell them, you have to swear them to secrecy. If they won't...."

"I know, if they won't, no telling them. Thank you!" Mokuba ran out of the room to find a phone.

--

Fifteen minutes later, the doorbell rang, and Mokuba ran to open it. He came back into the study, where Seto was sitting, followed by Yugi.

Seto's eyes narrowed dangerously. "You didn't bring your yami, did you?" he asked in a deadly quiet voice.

"No?"

"Good. Mokuba, you can take him to the backyard."

"O.K." Just then the doorbell rang. Mokuba took Yugi with him to open it, and they came back, followed by Ryou, Mai, Joey, Serenity, Octogi, and Tea.

Seto looked as though he was choking on something for a moment, then asked quietly, "Mokuba, could you stay here for a moment? Show your friends the way out."

Mokuba pointed the way to the backyard to his friends, and they left. Seto watched them leave, and waited until they were outside before blowing up at his little brother. "What did you do, invite the whole of Domino City? You said it would just be a few friends!"

"It _is_ just a few, and they all promised!"

Seto didn't reply to this. He sat at his desk, seething, and thinking about how he _seriously _needed to give his brother some lessons on the definition of the word 'few'. He stood up and stormed up to his room. Mokuba shrugged, and made his way to the back door.

Meanwhile, in the backyard, Brightmoss had been introduced to everyone by Yugi, and was now introducing everyone to everyone else.

"...And this is Willowwind Adurois – she's a telepathic elf – and this is her escurcae (1), Escurcae Adurois. Then we have Nachzes-Black Rider, Lieh-White Rider's nachzes (2), and Lieh...where _is_ Lieh, anyways?" She turned around and her eyes widened at what she saw. "Oh dear...."

Nachzes groaned.

Willowwind began hitting her head repeatedly on a nearby wall.

Escurcae broke into hysterical laughter.

Jes snorted, one hand over her mouth.

Aaron's eyes twinkled merrily.

Silverwater's lips twitched.

Flamechild smirked.

Yousei Youko blinked, then joined Willowwind in banging her head against the wall.

Mokuba giggled.

Yugi and co. stared.

Lieh-White Rider, cursing very graphically, mind you, was slowly climbing up the ivy on the side of the wall, towards a window. A very _particular_ window.

When she reached it, she climbed onto the windowsill and stared in, her face pressed against the glass. Not for long, though. The windows flew inwards suddenly, and Lieh fell inside. There was a muffled clunk, accompanied by Lieh's yelling and Seto's muffled cursing.

"WHAT THE...mmph!"

"SETO-KUUUUUUUN!"

There were the unmistakable sounds of things breaking, and then some muffled clunks that sounded suspiciously like someone being dragged down stairs. Then Seto's yell came again.

"Could someone get a crowbar???"

Everyone ran into the house and stared. Nachzes began to mumble "Why me? _Why _me? Why _me_?", several others began giggling, and Willowwind and Yousei returned to banging their heads against the wall.

Lieh was clinging to Seto's leather-clad leg, drooling, despite the fact that Seto was shaking his leg frantically, trying to throw her off. "Well, is somebody going to help me, or are you all just going to stand there and stare?" he yelled, shaking his leg harder. "My leg is getting tired!"

Lieh mumbled something like "My Seto-kun, the bishonen is mine. The Game King-baka Pharaoh will be very jealous. Prideshipping! (3) Yaoiyaoiyaoi...wait...but this is het. Hmm...my precious...." She opened her eyes and narrowed them at Yugi, baring her teeth and snarling at him.

"Lieh," Nachzes said flatly, "get off."

Lieh glared at her.

"You're so mean, Nachzes," she whined, trying for puppy eyes.

Nachzes wasn't moved.

"Lieh. Off. Now."

"But Nachzes...."

"No!"

Lieh pouted.

Seto gave his leg one last shake and she landed on the floor with a _fwump_. Willowwind glared at her. Lieh giggled at her up-side-down friend and waved. Willowwind's eyes narrowed further. Lieh's face fell.

"I think," Aaron said, "it's about time you told us where we are."

Lieh rolled her eyes and crossed her arms across her chest. "I already _told_ you!" she exclaimed in an exasperated voice. "We're in the Yugioh! realm!"

Everyone stared at her.

"What?" Flamechild asked, somewhat weakly.

"You mean that manga?" Jes asked.

Lieh nodded. Nachzes groaned and slapped her forehead. "Great," she muttered. "Just great. We're trapped in a stupid TV show/comic book that my lieh is obsessed with. Wonderful." Lieh grinned.

"Isn't it just?"

--

"I can't believe I've been reduced to this."

"Oh, cheer up, Haiiro. It could be worse.

"_Excuse_ me? We have been sent forcibly to another realm by a no-good demon-brat and cannot return to take revenge. In the meantime, we have to hide our wings, pretend we're _mortal_, and get a dumb job going around selling their pathetic little products!"

"Yes, it could get worse."

"Oh, how?"

"We could be fired from this job and have to find a worse one, and we _will_ be fired if you keep threatening to kill everyone who doesn't want them."

"How else are we supposed to sell any?"

"You could try asking instead of shoving it in their faces and demanding money."

"Like that would work."

"Do you want me to try it?"

"Go ahead, angel-boy."

"I have a name, you know."

"Oh. Really?"

"I shall ignore your pathetic attempt at sarcasm. Now, watch how you're _supposed _to sell them."

Ih'kauren walked up to the door and knocked. Seconds later, it swung open. "Good afternoon," he began. "I represent the Cancer Research Association. I'm selling cookies to support our program. Would you like to buy some? All proceeds go to cancer research."

About half a minute later, Ih'kauren walked back to Haiiro, grinning triumphantly, with three less boxes of cookies than before. "You see? Just be _nice_, and you're sure to sell some."

Haiiro stalked off to try and find another house to sell cookies at, muttering something about 'hopelessly optimistic angels'.

--

"Haiiro, let's try that place over there."

Haiiro's eyes lit up as he surveyed the mansion Ih'kauren was pointing out. "Can we rob it while we're there?"

"No."

"You have no sense of fun."

"Yes, I do!"

"No, you don't. You think that 'fun' means walking around singing hymns all day."

"That's not the only thing I think is fun!"

"What else, then? Preaching?"

"That's not it, either!"

This argument continued all the way to the mansion. As they neared it, the heard voices yelling, and some clunking noises.

Ih'kauren sweatdropped slightly. "Er, maybe this is a bad time to come here."

"No, it's fine. It sounds like fun!" Haiiro was grinning.

Ih'kauren winced. "We _seriously_ need to work on your definition of 'fun'."

"Are we starting this again?"

"No."

"All right, then."

The voices within the house died away to a reasonable level as Haiiro and Ih'kauren walked up to the door. Haiiro knocked.

--

All talking stopped when someone knocked quickly on the door. The knocking came again a second later, and again....

Seto strode angrily over to the door, and jerked it open. Before he could even see who it was, there was a black flash by his side that almost knocked him over, and it ran full-force into the person at the door.

"HAIIRO-KOIIIIIIIIII!!!!!"

Haiiro was flat on his back with Ih'kauren pinned under him, and an over-enthusiastic Nachzes on top of him.

"What are you doing here, koi? I thought you were busy ruling Hell!"

"N-Nachzes?" Haiiro coughed, astounded. "What happened? Why are _you _here? Did Kirune-ra send you here too?"

"No. Lieh made Jes mess up on a transport spell and sent us here. Wherever 'here' is," she muttered. "She keeps saying we're in the Yugioh! realm, but that's not even real!"

Haiiro blinked.

Ih'kauren wheezed.

Nachzes took the hint and stood, followed by Haiiro, and then a very winded Ih'kauren. "When were you sent here?" Nachzes asked as Haiiro and Ih'kauren dusted themselves off and attempted to regain their breath.

"About two weeks ago. You?"

"Just yesterday afternoon."

"Well, it looks as though _you've_ been having some luck here. Living in a big, fancy place like this."

"Er, not exactly _in_, Haiiro-koi. More like in the backyard of."

"You mean they've been mistreating you?" Haiiro's blood-red eyes glinted dangerously.

"No, it's all right. So, what have you been doing all this time?"

"Me and angel-boy have been walking around selling stuff to support this dumb project thing."

"I think it's an honourable cause," Ih'kauren chipped in, "and _you_ were the one who picked where we worked, Haiiro!"

"I _thought_ they would be doing some sort of research to see how they could _give _people cancer, not how to cure it!"

Ih'kauren rolled his eyes. "Honestly, Haiiro, sometimes I think spending all that time in Hell has fried your brains."

Haiiro ignored this, and turned back to Nachzes. "You wouldn't believe the trouble I've been having with him," he remarked. "Why, just a little while ago, he tried to modify the definition of 'fun'!"

Ih'kauren didn't reply, which was probably a good thing, because his reply probably wouldn't have been very angel-like. Haiiro realized that he wasn't going to get an argument out of this, and quit trying.

"Come in here, and meet my lieh." Nachzes beckoned to Haiiro and Ih'kauren. They walked through the door after Nachzes, only to see Lieh clinging to Seto's leg...again.

"Lieh, let go of Seto. _Now._"

"But Nachzes...."

"Lieh, _NOW._"

"Fine!" Lieh let go of Seto, pouting. She brightened slightly, however, when she saw the bishonen beside Nachzes, and another one behind the first.

"Lieh, this is Haiiro."

"Hi!" Lieh grinned, drooling slightly. "Who's that back there?"

"Oh, you mean angel-boy? He's my tag-along."

"I still have a name."

"Really?"

The angel rolled his eyes, then turned back to Lieh. "I'm Ih'kauren."

Back in the rest of the group, Yousei was drooling, swaying, and in general doing a very good job of imitating Lieh when she saw Seto. Willowwind was watching Ih'kauren with slight interest, and Escurcae looked very much as though she wished it weren't beneath her dignity to join Yousei.

Mokuba was watching the newcomers, grinning. "Seto, could...."

"_NO_."

"But Seto, there's so many people staying here already! It won't make much difference!"

"Mokuba, I said no, and that's final."

Mokuba decided to use his last resort, and tried again while it was in effect. "Pleeeeease?"

Seto was struggling against his little brother's 'last resort': his puppy eyes. "But Mokuba, we already have so many...."

"_Pleeeeeeeeease_?" Mokuba added a little sniff, just for good measure.

"N-n-n..._fine_!" ::A/N: Oh, the wonders of puppy eyes...;)::

"Thank you! You're the nicest, kindest—"

"_Enough_!" Seto stormed up the stairs.

Two minutes later, Haiiro and Ih'kauren left to quit their jobs. They were back within an hour, Haiiro grinning triumphantly, and Ih'kauren looking horrified.

"We didn't have to quit!" Haiiro grinned wider.

"Why not?" Nachzes asked.

"Cause we were already fired! Apparently several people phoned in with accusations of blackmail. I can't _imagine_ why...."

Ih'kauren was on the verge of glaring daggers at Haiiro.

"Why's Ih'kauren all mad?" Lieh asked.

"Oh, angel-boy's just upset that I messed up his perfect record."

Yugi looked at his watch. "Well, it's about time I was going," he told Mokuba, and the rest nodded. "Nice meeting you all," he called back over his shoulder as he left.

---

(1) - escurcae is my language's word for dark. It just happens to be my yami's name, like Yami and yami.

(2) – nachzes is Nachzes' word for dark/black, so...yes. Same concept as above. Also, lieh is her word for light, but it's also Lieh's name.

(3) – You do _NOT _ want to know.

-----

**Nachzes**: ::looking over chapter:: Heehee, Haiiro sandwich! Yum yum!

**Willowwind**: ::sigh:: Chapter length is going down...oh well. Oh, and look, we didn't need Yami yet, after all!

**Nachzes**: ::eyes widen:: DIE!!!

::Nachzes chases Willowwind out::

::various clunking noises ensue::

**Escurcae**: ::sweatdrops::

**Lieh**: Review! ::grins::


	4. Pancakes and Other Stuff

**A/N: **

**Willowwind: **Hey, people! Guess what day it is!

**Lieh:** IT'S MY PRECIOUS SETO-KUN'S BIRTHDAY!!!

**Willowwind: **Everybody ready?

**Everybody: **Yup!

**Willowwind: **One, two, THREE!

**Everybody: **Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy BIRTHDAY dear Seto! Happy birthday to yoooouuuu!!!

**Seto: **Get. Me. Out. Of. Here.

**Mokuba: **::giggles:: ::runs up and hugs Seto:: Happy birthday, big brother!

**Seto: **Mmph.

**Willowwind and Lieh: **::squeal:: KAWAII!!

::streamers and confetti fly down onto Seto::

**Willowwind: **::giggle:: He looks like a pile of tinkertape.

**Escurcae: **That's enough torturing Seto. Could somebody do the disclaimer?

::Seto breaks free and runs away, everybody chases him but Mokuba::

**Mokuba: **::blink:: Er, they don't own Yugioh! or Haiiro and Ih'kauren, but they own everyone else. And the warnings have not changed. Now excuse me, I have a brother to catch. Roll fic! ::Mokuba runs out:: Seto, wait for meeeeee!!!

--**_Finding Home_**

**-Chapter Four – Pancakes and Other Stuff**

Willowwind opened her eyes, and looked around at the room she was in. Yes, room. Mokuba's puppy eyes had done the trick again, and now all of the company were sleeping inside the house. And not a moment too soon, either. The telepathic elf slowly rose from her bed, and walked over to the window. She looked out, grinning, at the puddles of rainwater on the ground outside.

There was a knock on the door, and, a moment later, it opened to reveal a maid.

Willowwind stared. "I didn't know that Seto had servants...." She remarked questioningly.

"He doesn't have very many, and we don't do too much. We do most of the cleaning, and a few odd jobs, and that's about it."

"Oh. Well, what did you want?"

"Breakfast will be soon. I was just sent to let you know."

"Thank you. But why didn't Seto or Mokuba come to tell us that?"

"Mr. Kaiba and his little brother are making breakfast. I would hurry up and get ready, if I were you." The maid exited.

Fifteen minutes later, Willowwind descended a flight of stairs, and made her way through several hallways into the dining room. Most of the company were already there. Willowwind made her way over to Lieh and Yousei, an sat between them.

A moment later, Seto burst out of the kitchens, holding a plate of pancakes. There was a glob of batter stuck in his hair. He set the plate down on the table and disappeared back into the kitchens.

The sound of Mokuba's giggle came from behind the closed door, and then something splatted against it. Seto said something, another splatting noise came, and Mokuba giggled again.

Lieh glanced at Willowwind, who shook her head slightly. The first hikari pouted. Sighing, she rested her chin on one had and fiddled with her fork, throwing resentful sideways glances at Willowwind every so often. Willowwind rolled her eyes. "Lieh...."

Lieh stuck her tongue out at her friend but remained silent, forehead creased in thought.

Willowwind thought of something. "Yousei," she asked, turning her head the other way toward the faerie, "isn't the school year supposed to start soon?"

"Yes. It starts two days from now. Mokuba said something about Seto taking us to sign up at Domino High later today.

"Oh. O.K." Willowwind turned back to Lieh, and froze. Lieh wasn't there. The elf scanned around frantically, and saw her friend sneaking towards the doors of the kitchen. "_LIEH!!!_"

Just then, the kitchen doors banged open, and Seto fell out with semi-congealed pancake batter plastered onto his body in random places. He landed right in front of Lieh, and she froze. She stared at Seto's wrist, which was uncovered from the sleeve being pulled up and facing upwards. She blinked, and then whirled around to face her yami. "NACHZES!"

"Wha-" Nachzes' question was cut short as she saw Seto's wrist. He was getting up and staring at Lieh curiously.

"IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!"

"Lieh, I didn't know it would happen if I wrote it! I didn't think it would mean anything! Lieh, wait!"

Lieh wasn't paying attention to her dark half. She ran from the room, crying, and calling over her shoulder as she went, "I _TOLD _YOU NOT TO WRITE IT!"

Nachzes swore under her breath, and then ran after her hikari.

Seto blinked, clearly confused. Mokuba came out to see what all the yelling was about just as Seto went back in to make more pancakes. The younger Kaiba was about to follow his brother when Escurcae stopped him with a question.

"Mokuba?"

"Yes?"

"I know this will seem like kind of an odd question, but...how did your parents die?"

The happy smile died from Mokuba's face, but he still answered the question. "In a car crash."

"And how did Seto get that scar on his wrist?"

"That was when...he was younger."

"Did he try to commit suicide in the back room of some police station by cutting his wrist with a piece of glass from the accident?"

Mokuba's eyes widened, then narrowed very quickly. "HOW DID YOU KNOW, YOU STALKER?!" he yelled. ::A/N: We all know what Mokuba yelling brings....::

The kitchen door smashed open, and Seto ran out. Escurcae laid a hand on her sword hilt, effectively stopping him. It did not stop him talking, though.

"What did you say to Mokuba?" he demanded.

Mokuba answered the question for him. "Big brother, she knows about your scar!"

"What?!" His eyes narrowed farther than anyone would have believed possible. "How?"

"I think I probably know almost as much about you as you do yourself, _Seto James Shukumei._"

Seto froze.

"I think it's about time you knew some things. Well past time, actually. You see, in our realm, we have things called fanfictions. My hikari and Nachzes both write them. Fanfictions are stories about movies or other stories that are already written by someone else. You're on a TV show in our realm, and Nachzes really likes it. So, naturally, she wrote a – well, several fics about you, most involving your past. She wrote that your parents died in a car crash, and, shortly after, you tried to commit suicide, and Mokuba saved you. I don't think that she knew that writing it would make it real, though, so don't be mad at her. It's not her fault."

---

Meanwhile, back upstairs, Lieh was glaring through her tears at Nachzes, her hands clenched into fists at her sides, her lips trembling slightly, but still set in a relatively firm line. She blinked, and more tears ran down her face. A small, hiccupping sob escaped her, and Nachzes took half a step forwards, but stopped when Lieh's glare intensified.

"Lieh..." she began, but the other cut her off.

"And what about Gozaboro?" she snarled. "What about him? Why don't you go downstairs and ask Seto really nicely if he's still a friggin' VIRGIN!" She was screaming now, and Nachzes flinched at the harshness in her voice. "YOU HAD HIM _RAPED_, NACHZES! _RAPED_! AND YOU'RE ACTING LIKE IT'S NOT YOUR FAULT!"

"Lieh," Nachzes interrupted, "We don't know for sure if it _all _happened! He's not gay, and it doesn't look to _me_ like Mokuba has cancer. And what about all the other fics that others write, why doesn't this happen to them?"

"I don't know!" Lieh wailed. "I just don't know, Nachzes! But why'd it have to be Seto? What did he do to deserve all this?"

Nachzes sighed. "I don't know," she said quietly. "But some of it's not me. I didn't decide most of it. I just used theories of my own to fill in the blanks that the Yugioh! creators left. Like his parents. _I_ didn't kill them, I just used my own ideas on _how_ they died. And as for on, it's kinda hard to see a big, burly, evil stepfather holding a riding crop in front of a ten-year-old boy and not think of physical abuse. And besides, he's always wearing long sleeves, long pants, and high collars. I didn't write that, either."

"Well, no," Lieh admitted, looking down. "But still..." a tear ran down her cheek and she looked back up. "Why Seto?"

"Fate has strange ways of operating, Lieh," the yami said. "My guess is that it was a test." She smiled. "And besides, hasn't his bond with Mokuba strengthened because of it?"

Lieh laughed bitterly. "Yeah, so much that if Mokuba died, Seto'd commit suicide without a second thought."

Nachzes sighed and squeezed her hikari's upper arm. Lieh looked up. "Not if you give him someone else to care for," she whispered. Then she turned Lieh around and began to push her towards the door. "Go get 'im, Tiger," she said, and shut the door behind her light.

Slowly, a huge grin split the hikari's face, and Lieh bounced down the stairs, leaving Nachzes laughing quietly to herself behind the closed door.

---

All eyes turned away from Escurcae as the doors which led into the hallways burst open. Lieh, who was grinning like her usual self again, was standing in the doorway. After pausing only a moment, she sprinted five steps across the floor, then launched herself at Seto. The 16-year-old CEO sighed as she latched onto his leg – again.

"Lieh..." Willowwind started, but her friend was muttering something indecipherable to herself, and giggling at odd intervals. Willowwind rolled her eyes and gave up.

"Mokuba," Yousei asked, giving the 11-year-old a meaningful stare, "Don't we have to go and sign up for school? _NOW_?"

"We were going to do that la-" the younger Kaiba caught Yousei's look and understood immediately. "Oh, I mean, yeah, we were going to do that right now. Right, big brother?" Mokuba turned to Seto.

"That's right. Somebody get Black Rider down here while I go get the car ready." Seto stalked off, dragging Lieh with him, as she still hadn't let go of his leg.

Fifteen minutes later, all fourteen people staying in the Kaiba mansion were crammed into Seto's limo ::A/N: And it's a good thing it was a limo, even if it was a small one. I mean, can you imaging fourteen people crammed into a regular car? And two of them have wings, too....::, on their way to Domino High. Seto was staring angrily straight ahead as Lieh giggled and bounced on his lap. Yes, _on his lap_. There had only been enough room for half of them to have their own seat, so the other half were sitting on the laps of those with seats. Seto glanced around angrily. Why couldn't Lieh be like Willowwind and sit on her yami's lap? Oh, right, because Nachzes was sitting on Haiiro. Apart from them, Yousei was giggling on Ih'kauren's lap, Brightmoss was on Silverwater, Jes was on Flamechild (who was blushing bright red, might I add), and (much to the annoyance of Seto) Mokuba was sitting on Aaron. Seto sighed. Since when was the drive to school _this_ long?

After what seemed like an eternity (to Seto, nobody else noticed), they arrived. People poured out of the limo. Mokuba glanced around when he got out, and then caught sight of what (or who) he was looking for.

"There's my friends, over there! Come on, Brightmoss!" The two youngsters ran off towards the group of people standing outside the doors of the school, followed closely by everyone else. Except for one obvious exception. Seto sat on a nearby bench and tool out a book. The school would open for registration soon. Then he could drag everyone away from Yugi and his friends. Until then....

Seto's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Mokuba's voice. "Seto, guess what!"

"What is it now?"

"Tea got a new DDR machine, and she wants us to come over and try it out tomorrow!"

"Oh. Wonderful."

"Can we go? _Pleeeeease_?"

"Fine, if it will make you stop bothering me."

"Thank you!" Mokuba gave his brother a quick hug before running off to join the others.

Seto watched him go, and, for one of the first times in his life, he wished that he could be like the others, laughing and talking together. The CEO sighed and turned back to his book. It was too late. The days when he could have made friends and been like the others were long gone...or so he thought.

----

**A/N: **

**Willowwind: **That. Chapter. Sucked. _Bad_.

**Escurcae: **It wasn't that bad. The end and a few other places need some work, but it was O.K.

**Willowwind: **Fine. I will edit this chapter a _lot_. Later, though. I can't get any ideas yet.

**Escurcae: **0.0 You don't mean....

**Willowwind: **Yes, I am getting writer's block. And I don't know how to stop it.

**Nachzes: **_NOOO!!!_ YOU MUST WRITE MORE! _WRITE!!!_ ::sticks pen in Willowwind's hand, and then grabs the hand and scribbles on piece of paper with it::

**Willowwind:** The next chapter might take a while in coming. But I do have lots of good ideas for it, so maybe not...we'll see. Anyways, please review. ::lights blink in the background, saying 'This Means You Nachzes':: It would make me hyper, and hyperness might help stop writer's block...for now. See ya.


	5. School

**A/N:**

**Willowwind**: ::walks in, grinning::

**Escurcae**: Hi, Willowwind. How's the cure for writer's block coming along?

**Willowwind**: ::larger grin:: I think I might have found it.

**Escurcae**: ::sits up:: Really? What?

**Willowwind**: I'm not going to tell you, but I can give you a hint….

**Escurcae**: O.K. What's the hint?

**Willowwind**: It starts with 'S' and ends with 'ugar'. Guess what it is!

**Escurcae**: Er…sugar?

**Willowwind**: YUPS! SUGARSUGARSUGAR!!! ::huge grin::

**Escurcae**: ::sweatdrops::

**Legolas**: ::pokes Escurcae:: I _told_ you we should have confiscated her Halloween candy.

**Nachzes**: NO! Let her eat it, if it'll keep her writing!

**Willowwind**: Thank you, Nachzes! You're too nice to me!

**Nachzes**: I know….

**Lieh**: DDR! DDR! ::dances around::

**Escurcae**: Yes, Lieh. This chapter has the DDR scene.

**Lieh**: YAY! Then start the chapter! ::turns to audience:: Own, don't own, etc. etc. blah blah blah. Warnings: Swears, OOC-ness, the usual. Oh, and this is the chapter where this actually starts to be a mary-sue, if you know what I mean. Roll fic!

---

Finding Home Chapter Five: School

"Is she for real?"

"Can't be…."

"Yeah! I mean, nobody's _ever_ beat Tea at DDR!"

"How could she think she'd stand a chance?"

"I dunno…."

Joey suddenly shut up as Lieh finished talking with Nachzes and turned to Tea.

"Warm-up or not?" she asked. Tea blinked.

'Well…she certainly takes this seriously,' she thought. "Uh…sure," Tea responded aloud. "You go first."

Lieh nodded. "'kay." She set her backpack down and unzipped it, removing a CD case from within it. Turning to Tea, she asked, "Standard Kaibacorp. DDR? Works with disks as well as pre-programmed songs?"

Tea nodded, startled. Lieh grinned, looking much like her yami, and inserted the CD.

"Perfect."

Stepping up onto the dance pad, she chose her dance level and selected 'play CD'. Almost immediately, music blared to life. Lieh grinned and began to bounce in time to it on the pad, singing along as the first line of the lyrics came.

"Don't wanna be an American idiot!"

Right;

Left down;

Jump, jump.

"Don't want a nation under the new media!"

Right foot up, left foot right, and _jump_!

"And can you hear the sound of hysteria?"

Right foot right again, and jump, then switch your legs to left up and right down. Jump!

"The subliminal mindfuck America!"

Everyone of Yugi and co.'s many pairs of eyes were as large and round as dinner plates. Seto had one eyebrow raised, a smirk plastered onto his face.

"Welcome to a new kind of tension / All across the alien nation / Everything isn't meant to be okay / Television dreams of tomorrow / We're not the ones who're meant to follow / Convincing them to walk you!"

Tea winced as Lieh moved to the now _much_ faster beat, hips shaking and arms above her head, her body sliding smoothly from one position to the next with only a short glance at the screen as arrows flew across it. Glancing over her shoulder during a spin, Lieh grinned as she continued to sing, laughing at the look on Tea's face.

"Well maybe I'm the faggot America!"

The flashes of colour from the DDR screen lit up the girl's ecstatic face as he danced, feet moving blurrily fast in the darkened basement over the glowing dance pad as she jumped on the center, and then spun, mouth moving as she belted out one of her favorite songs ::A/N: Lieh: It really is! True Canadian am I!::.

"I'm not a part of a redneck agenda!"

Nachzes smirked and crossed her arms over her chest, leaning against a similarly-positioned Haiiro as bright light flickered over her face. Tea's expression was to _DIE_ for!

"Now everybody do the propaganda / And sing along in the age of paranoia!"

Willowwind and Yousei seemed to be alternating between looks of pain at the language and jubilation as Lieh danced.

"Welcome to a new kind of tension / All across the alien nation / Everything isn't meant to be okay / Television dreams of tomorrow / We're not the ones who're meant to follow / Convincing them to walk you!"

Left foot, right foot, up, down, centre, and bottom-left….

"Don't wanna be an American idiot!"

Shimmy, shake, flame the stars and stripes.

"One nation controlled by the media!"

Arms over your head – swing 'em wide.

Forward and back, then up-right and down-left.

"Information nation of hysteria!"

Chin raised in challenge, eyes sparkling.

"It's going out to idiot America!"

"Welcome to a new kind of tension / All across the alien nation / Everything isn't meant to be okay / Television dreams of tomorrow / We're not the ones who're meant to follow / Convincing them to walk you!"

::A/N: Willowwind: No offense WHATSOEVER was meant to general Americans. All flames will go to Nachzes, as she was the one who wrote that part. And she says that she'll use the flames to burn the White House (again—see Canadian history if you don't get what I mean. Canadians burnt down the White House once before) with George W. Bush in it, so I wouldn't suggest any flames at all.::

The music died off, and Lieh collected her CD, then stepped down off the dance pad, her eyes laughing silently. She ginned at Tea, who was staring at her, shocked.

Lieh laughed.

"Sorry," She said, giggling. "But I just _had_ to do that! I mean...you're American! That was _so _waiting to happen!" In response to everyone else's confused looks, she added, "I'm Canadian. I half hoped we'd have to sing the national anthem or something in school, cause I wanted to, like, sing 'Oh Canada' instead...." She took a deep breath and grinned around at everyone, stopping at Seto. "Why'd your parents move here anyways?" she asked him. "I mean, Nachzes uses the un-dubbed version, so there you live in Japan, but I know in the dub you and 'Ki-ki are the only Japanese-Americans in the show. And Ryou's British," she added as an afterthought.

Seto twitched.

"'Ki-ki?" Mokuba asked. Lieh grinned.

"My little nickname for you. I like Mokie, too, but I'm waiting for Seto to start calling you that again. So I got 'Ki-ki from that." She grinned again. "I also considered 'Wooden horse', but then I decided that sounded weird." She looked at Seto. "I like your name best, though. 'Turmoil' suits you perfectly, though I like 'Turmoil Fate' better than 'Turmoil seahorse'. 'Tis dumb. Doncha think it's funny that Go—" She was cut off by Willowwind, who slapped a hand over her friend's mouth and smiled at Seto, then dragged the girl away. ::1::

Seto's eyebrow seemed to have taken permanent residence in his hairline.

"So...," Tea said, "are you ready?"

Lieh shrugged. "Eh, whatever. If I can swim for 12 laps straight in a 25 _metre_ long swimming pool I can do another Dance Dance Revelation dance within a space of a minute or two." She rubbed her hands together and bounced up and down on her heels.

Tea blinked. "You swim?"

"Oh yeah. I'm in level 11. I'm gonna try for lifeguard-ship, but I didn't really have the time yet."

"Interesting...."

Lieh shrugged again. "Whatever. The sixteen bucks an hour helps with the bait too."

"...Okay. So, you ready?"

"Oh yeah."

Tea stepped up to the DDR machine. "What song?"

"Ecstasy?" Lieh sounded hopeful. Tea smiled.

"Sure. Your fave?"

"Uh huh." Lieh stepped up too. "You ready?"

Tea grinned.

"Ready as ever, Canadian girl."

The glint in Lieh's eyes was predatory as she bared her teeth in a feral grin. "I always lived a challenge," she quipped. Tea smiled coldly. Both girls turned to face the glowing DDR screens, and Tea's manicured fingernail reached for the start button.

"GO!"

---

Lieh stood in the middle of her group of friends, grinning widely, her face flushed with both exertion and happiness.

"Awesome, Lieh! I can't believe you beat _Tea_!"

Over with her friends, Tea glared at Lieh, rage and humiliation the cause of her flush, as Haiiro drawled, perfectly audibly, "Oh, Tea's not _that_ hard to beat. Compared to _real_ dancers, Tea's just child's play."

Lieh's giggly laugh rang out. "Oh, come on, Haiiro! Tea's an _excellent_ dancer! With a few more months of practice, she could probably beat me. I don't think I've ever had a more challenging opponent!" She flashed Tea an apologetic glance, but to the other it looked a lot like pity.

'Lieh-White Rider,' she thought, her blue eyes blazing, 'I will get you back if it's the last thing I do to make you pay for beating me at _my_ game!'

---

The next morning, Lieh woke up to something being tossed onto her bed. She sat up slowly, and glanced at the doorway. Seto was standing there, holding several parcels under his arm, identical to the one on her bed. "School uniform," Seto stated in answer to Lieh's questioning gaze, then he left.

Lieh tore her package open, hoping desperately that they had changed the school uniform since she had last seen it. She signed as the clothes fell into her lap. They were the same as they had been on the TV show. Well, it wasn't _that_ bad, it just needed a few slight…_adjustments._ Lieh put the skirt on, and the blouse, but she left a few of the top buttons undone. She disregarded the jacket (hey, it was _pink_) and put a blue tie (NOT the standard bow tie) that matched the skirt. Then, after a moment of thought, she braided her hair.

Soon after this, Lieh descended the stairs and make her way to the dining room. She snorted when she way everyone else's "uniforms".

Really, only four people were actually wearing their uniforms: Seto, Ih'kuaren, Silverwater, and Yousei. Everyone else had made some slight…_alterations_…to their uniforms.

Willowwind and Escurcae had both telepathically changed the colour of some of the articles of clothing. Willowwind had kept the skirt and the blouse, but she had changed the jacket to a blue which matched the skirt. She had completely disregarded the bow tie, just like her yami, and her hair, like her yami's, was in a pollyana. Escurcae had changed her skirt to white, her blouse blue, and her jacket white.

Nachzes had also changed her clothing's colours: her skirt was blood-red, and the previously white blouse was now black. Like Lieh, she had left a few top buttons of the blouse undone, she had left the jacket, and she was wearing a blood-red tie. She had left her hair down.

However, by far the most interesting "uniform" was Haiiro's. By how it looked, he hadn't even bothered to open his package. He was wearing black leather pants, a ribbed black muscle shirt with a collar that looked surprisingly like Yugi's. He was wearing something that looked like it could be a short-sleeved version of the school jacket, only it was blood-red. He had left his hair alone. Haiiro and Ih'kuaren also both had slits in the back of their jackets that they stuck their wings through. (Just for the fun of the story, let's just say that they can make their wings invisible, but not make them disappear entirely.) Lieh glanced around, grinning, and she wondered _what_ the principal was going to say about this….

Twenty minutes later, they were all jammed into Seto's limo, on their way to school.

---

Tea stood a little ways away from Yugi and the gang, unusually quiet. She was still sulking over yesterday's defeat. She glowered as Kaiba's limo pulled up outside the school and people jumped out. Her eyes widened as she saw the attire most of them were wearing, especially that one guy…Haiiro, was it? It didn't matter; he wasn't the only one who was going to get in major trouble because of his clothing. Then, she saw Lieh. An evil grin began forming on her face. She would get her revenge from yesterday's humiliation. But she had to work quickly. Lieh was wearing a _white_ shirt. No jacket. Tea would use the old water-on-the-door trick; old, but still very effective.

None of Yugi's circle of friends noticed when Tea slunk off, determination glowing in her azure eyes.

---

Mokuba saw Yugi and his friends, and immediately made for them, followed by the others. "Hey, Yugi!"

The spiky-haired boy turned around. "Oh, hi, Mokuba! Hi everyone!"

Lieh glanced around at the group. "Hey, where's Tea?"

"Tea?" Yugi looked around. "Oh, she's probably off sulking somewhere."

Actually, at the moment, Tea had just located a bucket, and was now looking for a source of dirty water to fill it with. Suddenly, she stopped. This plan was too risky. She could easily be found out, as there would probably be a lot of witnesses. Besides that, she might not even get Lieh wet; somebody else might get to it first. She needed a better idea. Aggravated, Tea glanced around, and then stopped. She was staring in as school window…at the pool. She slowly went through a new plan in her mind, and, unknowingly, a _huge_ evil grin spread across her face. She loved it. It was foolproof, and, in the end, it would be her word against Lieh's…the teacher's pet against the person who couldn't even follow the dress code for the first day. This was absolutely perfect.

---

Everyone stopped talking and looked up as the bell rang. Soon, students were pouring into the schools, on their way to their lockers. Seto sighed as he saw who took the locker next to him: Lieh. ::A/N: Duh….:: Nachzes was on his other side, and that wasn't much better. The 16-year-old drew out a timetable and glanced at it. L.A. came first. L.A. wasn't exactly his best subject. And math came next…math was _so_ boring in this school. He was at _least_ five grade levels above the rest of the class. ::A/N: Who can guess what fic that stat. is from?:: All in all, this was _not_ shaping up to be a good morning.

---

"Now, to see how much you know, and at what grade level you're at, you are all going to write a story, about anything you like. It's due Friday. You can have this class to work on it. Any questions?"

Willowwind put up her hand.

"Yes…" the teacher consulted her class list, "Escurcae."

"I'm Willowwind."

"Oh. Yes, Willowwind?"

"How long can it be?"

The teacher beamed, knowing that she had found a potential teacher's pet. "As long as you can make it by Friday."

Escurcae's hand shot up. The teacher turned to her. "Yes, Willowwind?"

"Escurcae."

"Oh. Right. Yes?"

"Will this be the only class we have to work on it?"

"We'll see how well you work today. Any other questions?" No hands were raised. "All right. You may begin."

Willowwind grinned at Lieh, who was sitting in the desk beside her. Leih grinned back. They were both thinking the same thing: 'As long as we can? Does she know that three kids in this class are authoresses, and at least one other loves writing? She is going to regret this….'

By the end of the hour-long period, Willowwind was nearing 10 pages of story, while Nachzes (who was by far a slower writer) was done a little over five pages. Lieh had managed to scrape four and a half, though she was caressing them much like Gollum and the Ring, uttering strange 'precious' noises.

The teacher sweatdropped massively when she saw their papers, then proceeded to ask the two SANE ::A/N: If she only knew….:: authoresses how far they were in their stories.

Willowwind grinned as evilly as she could. "I just got past the initial incident."

"I didn't even get there, although I came close."

The teacher ::A/N: We really should give her a name…let's say Mrs. Smith:: decided to leave it at that and NOT give them the next period to work on their stories, reminding herself to give them limits in the future. Everyone else finished packing and left.

Math class was nothing remarkable, as their teacher merely gave them worksheets on algebra, and then left them to do them after a "short" review on how to do algebra that no one needed.

Seto was finished his worksheet within two short minutes. He sat back, wondering what to do with the rest of the period. Annoying Gardener was always fun…but maybe he should try annoying some of the newcomers, to see how they reacted to it. White Rider would just start drooling, he knew, but the others? Seto looked up and saw Willowwind writing on a piece of lined paper, undoubtedly working on her story for L.A. He smirked. A perfect target.

Quickly and discreetly, he wrote a note on a slip of paper, crumpled it up, and tossed it onto her desk.

---

Willowwind started slightly as a crumpled bit of paper landed on her desk. She opened it, and read the neat writing on it:

"Adurois, you're supposed to be working on the worksheets. Weren't you paying attention when the teacher assigned them?"

Willowwind sighed, and tiredly scribbled a response. Then, without looking backwards, she tossed the note onto Seto's desk. ::A/N: Hey, she _is_ half telepath….::

Seto opened the note and read it.

"First of all, my name is Willowwind, not Adurois. And I finished the worksheets while the teacher was giving us that pointless review. Math doesn't take me _that_ long.

P.S. Weren't _you_ paying attention when the teacher read the rules…like the one that outlaws _passing notes_?"

Seto glowered at the paper, then crumpled it up. Maybe he should just stick to teasing Gardener….

The CEO took a note from Joey to Tea that he had managed to intercept from his bag. He carefully copied the messy scrawl into a note of his own, then crumpled it into a ball and tossed it onto Tea's desk.

Tea opened the piece of paper and glanced at it. It sure _looked_ like it was from Joey…. She read it.

"so, tea, y did u, like, looze to lieh? u suk!" ::A/N: Yes, I know the spelling is terrible! It's supposed to be from _Joey_, people!::

Tea's blue eyes widened, and then narrowed quickly. She turned in her desk to glare at Joey, who was sitting diagonally back from her.

Joey was just innocently working on the first question of his worksheet, when he felt someone's eyes on him. He looked up, and saw Tea, of all people, glaring daggers at him. He blinked twice, looking _very_ innocent.

Tea continued to glare, until she heard a soft snort come from directly behind her. She turned, and saw _Kaiba_ with his head down on his desk, shaking. Her eyes narrowed further. He was _laughing_.

She glared at him, and he looked up, still smirking. Her eyes widened as he mouthed, "You suck!"

Tea turned back to face the front, and put her head down on her desk. The only thing that could possibly save this day was what she had planned for lunch….

---

Two periods later, the bells rang, and people poured out of their classrooms, heading for their lockers, or for the doors. Among this crowd, Haiiro could be heard bragging to Nachzes, "The guy behind me in Social class kept complaining that something that felt like feathers kept smacking him in the face. I can't _imagine_ why, of course. And angel-boy almost got caught with his wings in Science. The teacher noticed the wing slits."

"Wings?" Yugi asked. "You don't have wings, do you?"

"Actually…" Ih'kuaren was cut off as Tea ran up to them. "Lieh," she panted, "the school decided to start a swim team, and it's meeting now. I was wondering if you'd like to come with me."

Lieh was immediately suspicious. "That wasn't on the announcements."

"They only told people who…have had a lot of swimming lessons. But they didn't know about you. So, I thought I'd tell you, 'cause I think we could really use you on the team."

"I don't have a swimsuit…."

"We're not going in the water. It's just a short talk."

Lieh stared suspiciously at Tea. Would she be the kind to do anything? Not likely. Lieh sighed. "Okay, but his had better be quick."

"it will be." Tea turned to lead the way, and no one saw an evil smirk spread across her face. No one except for one person. And that person was…

Seto Kaiba.

---

Seto was standing near Yugi and his newly-enlargened gang, when Tea ran up. She talked with Lieh for a little while, but, through all the noise in the hallway, he could only catch a few words. Eventually, Lieh nodded, and Tea turned around. As they began walking away, Seto couldn't help but notice that Tea grinned. And Seto did _not _like the look of that grin.

So, he followed them.

About five steps later, the involuntary part of his mind shut off, and he stopped. Since _WHEN_ did he care about what happened to Li-_White Rider_?

Oh great, he thought, now I have to think of an excuse.

I…wanted…to…annoy Gardener! Yes, that's it! I wanted to annoy her by spoiling whatever plans she had. He continued in the direction they had taken, but soon stopped again.

In the crowded hallways, he had completely lost sight of Lieh and Tea.

Where were they going? Seto thought back to the words he had caught from their conversation. Come, announcements, lessons, water, and quick about summed it up. Wait a second…water? Seto's eyes widened. The pool.

---

"So, Tea, when did you have this sudden 'change of heart' towards me?"

Tea thought fast. "When…I realized that you're probably having a hard time adjusting to being here, I mean, seeing as how you're not from here. So I thought that it would be easier for you if you had more friends and less enemies."

"I see."

They reached the door of the pool, and Tea held it open for Lieh, thus putting herself behind the other girl. Lieh went forward slowly, glancing around curiously as she did so. She made it to the edge of the pool, then stopped.

"Where's everyone else?" Lieh questioned, turning to face Tea.

"Oh, they…must not be here yet."

"I thought that you said the meeting was starting!"

"Well, I thought…"

"It appears that you thought wrong. I don't have forever to wait. I'm going to go."

In her moment of desperation, Tea grabbed Lieh's arm and pointed across the pool. "Look, there they are!"

"Where?" Lieh turned, and Tea took advantage of this immediately. She pushed Lieh forwards, and then turned and ran a few steps, and she almost thought she heard a clunking noise along with the splash that ensued. She started to turn back to see the result of her prank, when a voice reached her ears. Not Lieh's voice, either.

"_GARDENER_!"

Tea turned once more, and bolted.

---

Seto ran into the pool area, heedless of the slippery floor. Gardener ran out of the area, slamming the door behind her. Coward. She couldn't even face what she had done. Seto considered chasing her, but decided against it. He had seen Tea push Lieh into the pool, through a small window. He could catch her later. In the meantime….

Seto turned towards the pool, to see Lieh sinking. Not struggling, just…_sinking. _And the water above her was being tinged strangely red….

The CEO literally ripped off his jacket, ignoring the fact that its buttons were flying everywhere. He ran up to the edge of the pool, kicking of his shoes as he did so, and dived in, vaguely noting a smear of a liquid crimson substance on the tiles….

The water was cold. Not frigid, but colder than Seto had expected. He opened his eyes and looked around, and caught sight of Lieh nearing the bottom of the pool. He dived deeper.

Seto reached Lieh just as she was about to hit the bottom. He grabbed her around the waist and pushed off the bottom of the pool, rising quickly to the surface.

Breaking the surface of the water, Seto gasped for air, his cinnamon hair plastered to his head, school uniform hanging off of his lean frame, now see-through white shirt clinging to his chest. At first, Lieh's lack of response to air didn't bother him, but when he managed to heave her onto the deck of the pool, water streaming from both of them onto the blue tiles, his heart clenched.

Lieh…wasn't breathing.

---

**A/N:**

**Nachzes: **::evil laughter:: BWAHAHAHAHA! AND THE EVIL CLIFFHANGER IS COMPLIMENTS OF…_ME_! MUAHAHAHAHA! FEAR MY ALL-MIGHTY WRATH! WAHAHAHAH-::coughs:: ::shifty eyes at Willowwind::

**Willowwind: **IT WASN'T SUPPOSED TO BE A CLIFFIE!!!

**Lieh:** Yeah, well, you didn't use Yami! What was the point of us bringing him back if you still haven't used him?! Anyways, Nachzes has got the next scene all planned out, so all the readers have gotta do is review, and it'll be posted.

**Willowwind:** ::seethe::

**Nachzes: **::edges out of room::


	6. AR

**A/N: **

**Willowwind: **I TAKE NO BLAME FOR THIS CHAPPIE!! NACHZES WROTE!!

**Nachzes: **::reading plotline unconcernedly::

**Lieh: **So, is Yami in here yet?

**Nachzes: **No.

**Lieh: **::sigh:: What was the point of bringing him back from Pluto if we don't even use him?

**Willowwind: **Don't worry, we will soon. But not yet, apparently.

**Lieh: **::stalks off::

_Disclaimer_: HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU THAT I DON'T OWN YU-GI-OH!?

_Warnings_: Language, OOC-ness, and…AR!!!

_**Finding Home**_

**Chapter 6 – AR**(1)

::A/N: You can tell that I did this just to annoy you people….::

_Breaking the surface of the water, Seto gasped for air, his cinnamon hair plastered to his head, school uniform hanging off of his lean frame, now see-through white shirt clinging to his chest. At first, Lieh's lack of response to air didn't bother him, but when he managed to heave her onto the deck of the pool, water streaming from both of them onto the blue tiles, his heart clenched. _

_Lieh…wasn't breathing._

---

"Oh, shit," Seto muttered. "Great! Just _wonderful_! B-E-A-UTIFUL! _GOD_!" He slammed his fist onto the pool deck, and immediately regretted it.

"Damn it, White Rider, get UP!"

Lieh didn't move.

Seto swore again, then attempted to calm himself down so he could remember what he was supposed to be doing in this situation. 'AR, that's it! Oh, _gross_!' He made a face, and shifted nervously, nearly panicking. 'Okay, so I'll just…check for breathing!' He lowered his head and turned it to 'look, listen, and feel' (2), and felt his heart sink when he confirmed what he already knew - the girl wasn't breathing.

'Okay, so now I check her pulse.' Seto rested two fingers over the unconscious brunette's pulse point, and nearly fainted in relief. The girl's pulse, though a little slow, was strong and regular.

'Okay, so what's next again? Position the head, that's it!'

Seto reached down and placed two fingers under Lieh's chin, the other hand on her forehead, and tilted the girl's head back (3).

'Plug her nose.' (4)

Carefully, Seto used the index finger and thumb of his right hand to block Lieh's nasal passageway, then, grimacing, eyes shut tight, lowered his mouth to cover hers. ::A/N: Lieh: ::melts into puddle of goo with hearts for eyes::::

'Okay, here goes….'

'_Breathe_, one-one thousand, two-two thousand, three-three thousand, four-four thousand, five-five thousand, and _breathe_!' (5)

Removing his mouth from Lieh's, Seto checked her for any signs of breathing, his heart speeding up when there was no sound of air being drawn into lungs or any rising of Lieh's chest, or any feeling of breathing on his cheek.

"Lieh, don't do this to me!"

Seto smacked his palm to his forehead, and hissed.

'Re-position her head, idiot!'

Obeying the voice inside his head, Seto tilted Lieh's head back again (6), and plugged her nose, covering her un-responsive mouth with his and closing his eyes again.

'Okay…_breathe_, one-one thousand, two-two thousand, three-three thousand, four-four thousand, five-five thousand, _breathe_!'

'Check again.'

Nothing.

'Re-position the head; plug her nose; start again. _Breathe_, one-'

Suddenly, Lieh's body gave a violent tremor, as if preparing to cough or vomit. Quickly removing his mouth from Lieh's, Seto turned her onto her side (7) to face away from him as she coughed up the pool water she had inhaled in shock, her shoulders shaking violently. When she stopped, he rolled her back onto her back, glaring at her as she blinked doe-brown eyes flecked with bracken and moss up at him.

"Seto?" she said, confused. "What-"

She was cut off by Seto as he snapped, "Don't you _ever_ do that to me again!"

She scrutinized him carefully, reaching up to touch a painful-looking lump at the back of her head, wincing as she felt it.

Seto frowned at her and caught her wrist before she could brush it again. "Are you okay?" he asked.

Lieh nodded slowly, looking up at him. "I-I think so," she said, attempting to sit up, gasping as she stopped suddenly, light-headedness crashing into her. "Damn low blood pressure," she muttered, steadying herself. "Ow…." She stopped again, moaning slightly. Seto's frown deepened. He reached a hand out and placed it on her shoulder, halting her.

"You shouldn't be moving," he said, sounding more concerned than he would have liked.

Lieh laughed, though she winced as it jarred her head. "Better not say that, _Kaiba_," she joked sarcastically. Seto winced. "People might start thinking you _care_. Seto glanced down.

"Why did you get mad at Black Rider the other day?" he asked quietly.

Lieh blushed.

"I reacted too quickly," she said. "It's just…I mean, I guess it's not that far off. It might not have happened just 'cause she wrote it…." She flushed a deeper crimson as Seto chuckled wryly.

"I said '_why_'," he said.

Lieh looked down. "…Because…I care about you," she said cautiously. "Because I hate how everyone always judges you because of how you act outside. Because I know for a fact that there is more to Seto Kaiba than just the cold-hearted CEO everyone else sees. I know that deep down there's a scared child, a caring person, and…" she paused, "and somewhere in there are James and Hikari Shukumei (8)."

Seto raised one eyebrow.

"Eh, c'mon, Nachzes'll be getting worried," Lieh said, getting to her feet. Seto stared at her, trying VERY hard not to start going red.

"You're going to walk through the school with a see-through write shirt on," he said dryly.

Lieh sweatdropped. "I have a bra on, idiot," she said, rolling her eyes.

Seto blinked. "I think that bump on the head knocked youa little bit funny," he said. Lieh glared at him, swaying slightly.

"I," she bit out, "am _fine_."

Suddenly, she got a strange look on her face and collapsed. Instinctively, Seto's arms shot out and he caught her.

"_Sure_ you're fine," he muttered, rolling his eyes as he hoisted the girl into his arms damsel-in-distress style. "Just trippin'. That's why you fainted."

He continued to mutter to himself as he carried her down the hall – water dripping off his clothes and socks squishing down the linoleum tiles. Sever people stopped catting to stare slack-jawed at Seto and his armful. The CEO ignored them, and walked straight up to Nachzes, who was standing with Haiiro, Ih'kuaren, Jes, Flamechild, Escurcae, Willowwind, and Yousei. The fox faerie (9) gasped and nearly dropped her books.

"Lieh!" she breathed, eyes wide. "What happened?"

"Gardener happened," Seto growled, attempting to hand Lieh over to her yami. "She pushed Lieh into the pool."

Nachzes's eyes darkened. Finally, Haiiro took Lieh.

"Oh…thanks," Ih'kuaren said hesitantly. Seto shrugged.

"Just don't make me do AR again," he said.

Nachzes nearly fainted.

---

_**IMPORTATNT NOTE: Anyone who has taken swimming lessons and learned about AR need not read this!!!**_

(1) Artificial Respiration. When you 'breathe' for someone else.

(2) A position which you bend over a person lying face-up on the ground with your face turned sideways. _Look_ for the chest rising and falling, _listen_ for the rush of air, _feel_ for air on your cheek.

(3) When you give AR, you tilt the person's head back to open their air passageway so you can get air in easier.

(4) With a baby, you put your mouth over their nose and mouth; with an adult, you pinch their nose shut.

(5) Two breaths every five seconds for an adult – _breath_, unplug the nose, remove your mouth, count to five, and then give another breath.

(6) If the person still isn't breathing, you re-position the head again to make sure the air passage is open.

(7) You turn a person on their side to keep them from choking on either the water they're gonna cough up or their tongue.

(8) What I (Nachzes) made up for Seto's parent's names. Copyright by me! 2004! ::shifty eyes::

(9) Yousei means faerie. Youko means fox. Or the other way around. I can't remember. Doesn't matter. Yousei is the fox faerie. So there.

**A/N: **

**Willowwind: **Uh oh.

**Escurcae: **::nods::

**Lieh: **::grins:: The best way to get revenge: through Haiiro. Get me hurt, make Nachzes mad. Make Nachzes mad, make Haiiro mad. When Haiiro gets mad, people die.

**Escurcae: **::evil grin:: Tea is SO dead.

::Haiiro is off in a corner, looking through various weapons and cracking his knuckles::

**Willowwind: **::sweatdrops:: And we'll just leave it at that….

**Nachzes: **The chappie was entirely written by me, so if you don't review, I'll get mad, and that'll make Haiiro-koi mad, and…well…you'll end up in the same position as Tea. So…_REVIEW! _


End file.
